Picker stick check for looms



Nov. 25, 1941. H. A. DAVIS 2,263,982 PICKER STICK CHECK F OR LOOMS FiledAug. 22, 1940 INVENTOR HARRY A. DAVI5 ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 25, 1941UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE PICKER STICK CHECK FOR LOOMS Harry A. Davis,Hopedale, Mass., assignor to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester,Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application August 22, 1940, SerialNo. 353,711

Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in picker stick checks for loomsand it is the general object of the invention to utilize motion of thepicker stick induced by the shuttle to check or resist motion of thestick and thereby retard the shuttle. In the usual loom the greater partof shuttle momentum is absorbed by frictional contact with the binderbut there is usually a residual amount of momentum which remains to beabsorbed during the last part of the shuttle boxing. In many looms thisresidual momentum is absorbed by the picker with harmful results toitself. The picker is usually connected in some way to the picker stickso that motion of the picker in an outward direction toward the end ofthe lay will be transmitted to the picker stick. It is an im portantobject of my present invention to provide means whereby the time duringwhich the picker is in contact with and absorbing the residual energy ofthe moving shuttle can be distributed over a suflicient period to reducewear and strain on the picker.

It has been customary in the past to employ a type of picker stick checkincluding a strap the motion of which is resisted by a spring or someform of yielding friction clamp. It is another object of my presentinvention to provide a flexible strap which will be moved by the pickerstick during the latter part of shuttle boxing and in its motion act tocause other means-to increase the frictional resistance between thepicker stick and the strap.

It is a more specific object of my present invention to provide a straphaving one end thereof anchored to the lay and extending around theouter edge of the picker stick and then inwardly toward a rotatableelement to which it is attached. When the stick is moved outwardly thestrap will act to turn the rotatable element and the latter will rotatea cam or the like to move one end of a lever into a position to resistmotion of the picker stick. The lever may if desired act on the strap toforce it against the stick.

It is a still further object of my present invention to provideresilient means for returning the strap and lever to normal position insuch a way as to locate the picker stick a short distance inside itsextreme outer position. In this way assurance is given that the stickwill be in an initial checking position and able to receive motion fromthe latter part of the shuttle flight and communicate this motionthrough the strap to the checking lever.

'-Another object of my invention is to make the lever in two partswhichare yieldingly held together, one of the parts to derive its motion froma cam and the other part to move to a position where it can resistpicker stick motion. The yielding connection will permit the second partof the lever to be arrested in its motion should the cam act to give thelever too large an angular motion.

With these and other objects in view which will appear as thedescription proceeds, my invention resides in the combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter described and set forth.

In the accompanying drawing, wherein-a convenient embodiment of myinvention is set forth, Fig. 1 is a rear elevation of one end of ahaving my invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged horizontal section on line 2-2 of Fig. 1,

Fig. 3 is an enlarged rear elevation of part of the mechanism shown inFig. l and looking in the direction of arrow 3, Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 44 of Fig. 2,

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are detail horizontal sections on lines 5-5, 6-6 and1-1, respectively, of Fig. 4,

Fig. 8 is a horizontal section on line 8-8 of Fig. 3, and

Figs. 9 and 10 are vertical sections on lines 9-9 and Ill-I0,respectively, of Fig. 2.

Referring to the drawing, I have shown part of the loom frame I0 and alay ll having a shuttle box B at one end thereof to receive a shuttle S.The lay supports a picker spindle l2 along which slides a picker l3propelled by a picker stick [4 pivotally mounted at [5 on a rocker ironor foot l6 extending from the lay axis or rocker shaft I1. The lay issupported by swords one of which is indicated at [8 supported on theshaft l1. outer edge of the picker stick and is connected by a sweepstick 20 to a picking arm 2| mounted on a picking shaft 22 on which isalso mounted a picking cam 23. The bottomshaft 24 of the loom carries apicker ball arm 25 on which is mounted a picking ball 26 to cooperatewith the cam 23 and rock the shaft 22 in a clockwise direction A lugstrap I9 extends around the.

side of the 100m it will enter the box B and will be retarded by theusual binder not shown but well understood. During the boxing of theshuttle a frictional force is applied to the shuttle, but this forceordinarily is not suflicient to bring the shuttle to rest before itstrikes the picker. The residual momentum remaining in the shuttle asthe latter approaches the end of its boxing movement is exerted againstthe picker and from the latter to the picker stick, tending to move thelatter outwardly or in a left hand direction as viewed in Fig. 1 towardthe adjacent end of the lay. After picking the stick will move outwardlyor to the left as viewed in Fig. 1 but will be prevented from completingits outward motion by a mechanism to be describedi Under'porrnalrunningconditions therefore it will be understood that as the shuttle entersthe box the picker stick is in its initial checking position a shortdistance from its extreme outward or final checkns osi io f om tee to twin e d pendin the ettin et-th a s t e d s ribe e e na t d a the h ttle na t e e of its stroke the-stick will be given an pul ward me men l pa tsa ready describ d o thems lves f rm 1. ar Of my 1 11 ill $8130 nd may bemade and operated as usual with the exception efth mea s e hold n th pice sti kin its ni a h ck n 'pqsit en,

11 carr in my p esent in ention into efie I ro ide mechani m which comrises t o eeoperating parts one of which is given a direct m i b theicke st k as th sh tt e nea s the n o ts t e hd the se ond of wh c is med by he first i e pos tion to r sist ou a d motion Of he stic i firsdes rib at part of the m ch n sm which s d b the p cke stick and thendescribe the second partwhich is aet-uatedhy th fi s part o ehee t e stik.

The lay ha secu ed thereto a dependin bracket 21 e ower e d. e w i h is.te med with a eet 28 t whiehe herizeh e a m-231s be t Extehdi e up ardlemthe are: -29 is a p v pin 9 which is heldi fixed n ie in the arm by anut 3|. Rotatable on this stud 35 is a,cy,1- in-, e f ee s e 3 t ow p rtof wh c has a t bular bearing 33 turnable on the stud. 'Ifhe lat: t s Pde i h. e he lde z t en a e t e arm 23 and a cgliet 35 located slightlyabove the headset? o Pe m t he lat e to etate free n th tud-.- The shell3. ha outer e line e u a e which i his instance s pre era ly, though notnecessarily, concentric with the axis of the studflfl. A flexible strap31 has'its rear end secured as at 38 to the cylindrical surface 36 andafter being -wrapped around a portion of the latter extends outwardly"or to the left as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2 behind the picker stick andaround the outer edge thereof. The front end of the strap thenextendsinwardly toward the cen o h la o e. at ched t the l t y a er'39. In thisWay the forward end of the strap 3'! is held fixed with respect to thelay while the rear end of the strap is'fastened to. andcan causerotation of the shell 32.

The bearing 33 has secured thereto a cam disk '45 held in adjustedposition with respect to the bearing by a set screw 46. The cam may.6011- veniently be in the form of. an eccentric; as suggested'in- Fig.8, but I .do. not .wish tobe'limited rotatable about the stud 30 Iprovide a stop collar 50 having a stop finger 5| to engage the arm 29 asat 52, see Fig. 7. The stop collar is held in angularly adjustedposition on the bearing 33 by a set screw 53 and the finger 5i is heldagainst its stop by means of a torsion spring 55 surrounding the upperextension of stud 39 above the collet 35. The lower end of the spring isheld by the stud as at 55 while the upper end extends into the shell 32,as at 51. A disk '58 is held to the stud by a screw 59 and preventsdisplacement of the spring but does not interfere with rotation of shell3-2. The spring is attached to a head 55 which rotates with the shell32. The spring permits turning of the shell 32 in a clockwise {directionas viewed in Figs. 6, 7 and 8, and acts to return the shell and stop tonormal position, and also draws the rear end of the strap inwardly, ortgward the center of the loom.

The second part of the structure is controlled :by arn 4 and ih hd s asec nd ertiea stud. n a m on whi h is r t te ei y of m mbe s the of whch is le e t! an the oth a ei he s i k h elsi-hs arm =62, The e er hasan arm .53 positioned forengagement with the cam disk 45 and has asecond arm fig extendins o ar t e end e h a A ed- 65 i s h mohn 'in n 56threa ed n a m 4 and held in position by nut 61. An adjusting collar 68secured to the rear end .of rod .65 by screw 69 limits forward metion ofthe rod relatiyelyto nut 66.

The forward end of rod 55 extend into a shoe 10 formed on the checkingarm-g2 and is ens larged as at H to limit rearward movementpf the rodwith respect to the shoe, see Figs. 2 and 0- A mp e on sp n su ee ds' edt5 and lies between the nut 56 and theshoe 1g and tends normally to holdthe latter in forward spaced position with respect to the arm .541 Theshoe Ii! has an arcuate smooth vertical web -15 which lies behind andcontaet withthatpart of the strap 31 which extends between the shell 32and the picker stick. Except as-restrained 9y relations i s to e men i nd ere t the lever 6| and'arm .62 are freeto rotate onthe stud 60.

U de no m hdx eh w n th s ttle t ave lins wer he Dex h arts wi he. inthe fu l line position sh wn in Fig. 2 With-the pi k s kits in t l eheki s pit-sees by s n 1 a d ead t start outwa dly with the shuttleduring the last part of thefshuttle travel in the box. Under theseconditions the shoe 1. wi e h li h eeete t With-the rear e t of stra 3nd th a 3. et. leve 5' l en a e the low su ace 4. of se s 4 as theshuttle ke t e eith he ielee t e willstert to o e to tne lef om the ullihere tien cf Fi 2. and. i de -hs s w ll m e the rear-pes .e strapto t e"left, e toward th ediee end. f th la due e the ee ha h ro n o the strapis fix d he l Me exnen e the st p wi l cau e otat on Qt the. she l 3 eecent 45 i s d i n to there the. wide pe t 4. o t rn reerwerdlyy h reby miesthe a m ti e au in a l c w se-whites le e t as ie ed in F g. 2. Th erresPe des. tor-W rd met enof arm .64 moves the shoe [0 forwardly by aforce: transmitted through spring 1.5. I

.-'he s ra 31 i pu hed te w-e d yagainst the rear sid o t est ek when te. sh set-ten o i a e the r c na r s stan e. etie e hy. the strap tomotion of the stiek, 15y the he nielser t c has reeehed it et ermest cestion as indicated in dotted lines in Fig. 2, the cam will have movedsufiiciently to place the wide or high area 48 against the end 63 of thelever and the shoe will have. moved to its extreme forward positionshown in dotted lines in Fig. 2,

thereby increasing the wrap of the strap around the web 16.

The movement of lever 6| is due to a force derived originally from theshuttle and transmitted tothe picker stick to cause the latter to movethe rear part of the strap in an outward or left hand direction asviewed in Fig. 2. For this reason the checking force exerted on thestick is conditional upon the time of arrival of the shuttle in theshuttle box, and the rapidity with which the cam is turned to rock thelever, and therefore the rate at which the restraining force is appliedby shoe H1, is proportional to the rate of travel of the shuttle. Whilespring 15 permits slight relative motion between the arm and the lever,in actual operation arm 62 and the lever 6| move together and thereforecan be considered for all practical purposes as a unit rotatable aboutthe stud 60. The spring 15 will yield if the cam rocks lever B! througha distance more than that which can be accommodated by the flexing ofthe strap 31. The web 16 has been illustrated as having direct contactwith the rear part of the strap 31, a construction which avoids directengagement between the shoe and the picker stick, but I do not wish tobe limited to this construction since the significant feature of the arm62 is that it exerts a resisting force on the picker stick which isadditional to the resistance offered by the strap 31 acting alone.

From the foregoing it will be seen that I have provided a picker stickcheck wherein outward motion of the stick acts to increase thefrictional resistance offered to motion of the stick by a resistingelement, such as the strap. It will further be seen that the pickerstick causes motion of a part of the strap and that this motion isutilized to force the strap against the picker stick. More specifically,it will be seen that movement of the strap induced by the picker stickcauses rotation of a cam element which acts on a lever to force thestrap against the stick. Although I have shown the strap as having oneend fixed with respect to the lay I do not wish necessarily to belimited to this construction, as it is sufiicient if one part of thestrap can be caused to move by the stick to actuate the lever rockingmeans.

Having thus described my invention it will be seen that changes andmodifications may be made there in by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention and I do not wishto be limited to the details herein disclosed, but what I claim is:

1. In a picker stick check for a loom having a lay and a shuttle boxthereon to receive a shuttle and having a picker stick to be given amovement toward the adjacent end of the lay by the shuttle as the latterapproaches the end of its travel in the shuttle box, a flexible straphaving one end thereof secured to the lay on one side of the pickerstick and having the other end extending around the stick to be moved bythe stick when the latter has said movement, a rotatable element mountedon the lay to which the strap is connected, a cam on the rotatableelement, and a lever pivoted to the lay and having one end to be movedby the cam and having the other end positioned in engagement with thestrap, move- 'ment of the strap by said movement of the picker stickturning the rotatable member and causing thecam to rock said lever' andcause said other end of the lever to move the'strap into position toresist movement of the picker stick.

2. In a picker stick check for a loom having a lay and a shuttle boxthereon to receive a shuttle and having a picker stick to be given amovement toward the adjacent end of the lay by the shuttle as the latterapproaches the end of its travel in the shuttle box, a flexible strapsupported by the lay and extending around the picker stick and havingone end thereof moved by the stick when the latter has said movement, acam connected to said one end of the strap to be moved by the latter,and a lever having one end thereof to engage the cam and the other endto move the strap toward the picker stick, movement of said one end ofthe strap causing movement of the cam and the latter rocking the leverin a direction to move said other end of the lever against the strap tomove the latter frictionally against the stick to retard movementthereof.

3. In a picker stick check for a loom having a lay and a shuttle boxthereon to receive a shuttle and having a picker stick to be given amovement toward the adjacent end of the lay ,by the shuttle as thelatter approaches the end of its travel in the shuttle box, a flexiblestrap engaging the picker stick and having one end thereof movable bythe stick when the latter has said movement, a lever pivoted on the lay,and means operated by the strap to move one end of the lever and therebyrock the lever when said end of the strap is moved by the picker stick,the other end of the lever engaging the strap and forcing the latteragainst the picker stick to retard motion of the stick toward the end ofthe lay when said lever is rocked by said means.

4. In a picker stick check for a loom having a lay and a shuttle boxthereon to receive a shuttle and having a picker stick to be given amovement toward the adjacent end of the lay by the shuttle as the latterapproaches the end of its travel in the shuttle box, a strap extendingaround the outer edge of the picker stick and. having one end to bemoved by the picker stick when the latter has said movement, a pickerstick checking lever, and means operated by said strap to cause saidlever to rock when said end of the strap is moved by the picker stick,said lever having a part thereof movable to a position to force thestrap against the picker stick to assist in resisting motion of thepicker stick toward the adjacent end of the lay when said lever rocks.

5. In a picker stick check for a loom having a lay and a shuttle boxthereon to receive a shuttle and having a picker stick to be given amovement toward the adjacent end of the lay by the shuttle as the latterapproaches the end of its travel in the shuttle box, means movable bythe picker stick and acting to resist said movement of the picker sticktoward the adjacent end of the lay, and other means moved by the firstmeans against the latter to force said first means against the pickerstick to increase the resistance offered by said first means to movementof the picker stick toward the adjacent end of the lay when said firstmeans is moved by the picker stick.

6. In a picker stick check for a loom having a lay and a shuttle boxthereon to receive a shuttle and having a picker stick to be given amovement toward the end of the lay by the shuttle as the latterapproaches the end of its travel in the shuttle box, a strap extendingaround one edge of the picker stickandhaving an enmhere 'o'tniova'blebythe picker stick when the latter has said movement; a pickerstick checking lever normally in non-checking position, and meansactuated "by the strap w'heir the latter is moved b'y'th'e picker'stickto move the rev-er against the strap and force the 'latteragainstthe'picker stick.

7. 'In'a picker stick check for a 100m having a lay and a shuttle boxthereon to receive ashnttl'e'arid having a picker stick to begiven'amove "merit toward theehd' ofithe lay by the shuttle as the latterapproaches the end of its travel in theflshuttlebox, the combination oftwo picker sticlt'checki'rig'm'eans one" of "which is normally innon=checking position an'd theother of which is normal-1y in checkingposition and is moved by the picker stick when the latter has saidmovement, and mechanism actuated by said other mea ziswhen' the latteris moved by saidjpick'er stick to move the first named means against theother means to force thelatter against thepick'er stick.

8-} in a picker stick check for a loom having a lay and ashuttle boxthereon to receive a shirtt-le and having apicker stick to be given amoveinent toward the end of the lay by the shuttle as the latterapproaches the end of its travel in the shuttle box, a flexible strap tobe engaged by the picker stick and have one end thereof move when thepicker stick has said movement, a rock able lever, means to rock'saidlever when the strap is moved by said picker stick, a picker stickchecking arm, and a yielding connection between said lever and the arm,rocking of the lever ca'using the arm to move toward picker stickchecking positionby a force derived from the lever and transmittedthrough the yielding means.

9. In a picker stick check for a loom having a 'stra'p' is moved by thepicker stick, ashuttle checking'a'rma bolt connecting the lever and thearm, a compre'ssion sprin'g surrounding the bolt and tending normally toinove' the arm in a direction from the lever to the stick, and stopmeans to limit motionof the armwith respect to the-lever; rocking of thelever 'by said strap and means moving the arm to pi'cker stickchecking-pos'itioiran'd the'arm being movablerelatively to" the leverwhenin p'idkerstick checking positib'riby reason of compression of thespring.

l0. In apicker stick check fora l oom havi'ng a lay and af shuttle boxthereon to receive a shuttle andhivihg a pieke'rstick' to be givena'mcyemem toward the adjacent end of the Pay by the' shu'ttle thelatterapproaches the end (if its travel into the shuttle box, two meanseachcapable of resisting-movement ofthe picker stick, one of said meansbeingflexible and having engalgfeihent with" the outer edge and a side of thepicker stick tobe moved" by the picker stick when the latter has said"movement, and the other means being moved by the first means againstsaid-first means'to force the latteragainst saidside of the picker sticktoassist in resisting movement of the picker stick toward the adjacefntend o'f the lay when said first means is move-a6 by the picker s'ti'ck.

HARRY A. DAVIS.

